LoggingIntoMultipleAccountsonAppleTV

Although Apple’s tvOS is just a few months old, it’s light-years ahead of iOS in at least one way. Logging into multiple accounts on the Apple TV is a much easier process than on the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. Let’s take a look.

How to do it

Adding multiple accounts

When you have multiple people in your household, the odds are pretty high you have multiple iTunes accounts. This is also a situation for folks who have both personal and business accounts. Luckily, the Apple TV can support multiple Apple IDs for buying separate apps, games, movies, TV shows, and more.

While you may have multiple accounts on your Apple TV, you can only use one account at a time.

Easy as 1-2-3

From inside the Settings app on the home screen of your Apple TV, go Accounts > iTunes and App Store > Add New Apple ID.

Previously used Apple IDs are shown on the next screen. You can either select one of the existing logins or add a new one by selecting “Add New …”

Fill in your username/password and then log in.

You’ll need to add the password for Apple IDs each time you wish to use them as your current ID.

You can switch accounts by heading to Settings > Accounts > iTunes and App Store, then selecting the account you want to log in with.

While you may have multiple accounts on your Apple TV, you can only use one account at a time. In other words, you need to make sure you’re logged into the correct account when making purchases or want to download previously downloaded titles.

Previous logins

Multiple accounts also work with Family Sharing, so kids can switch to their accounts and “ask to buy” just like on iPhone or iPad.

Password choices

You can also determine how often a password is needed to make new purchases with each login. You can set this to “Always,” “After 15 minutes,” or “Never.”

It’s also possible to not require passwords for free items.

What this means

You may have App Store titles installed on your Apple TV from multiple users. Better still, each app is automatically updated, even if you’re not actually using the login tied to the purchase or download.

Hopefully, we’ll be seeing similar login tools in an upcoming version of iOS.